


The Not-So-Invisible String

by gnomi



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 04:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1454806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gnomi/pseuds/gnomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt and Blaine talk fondling and ball winders within minutes of meeting, but it’s not necessarily what you think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Not-So-Invisible String

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Glee Write What You Know (Glee WWYK) Fest. Beta by the magnificent Jen (froggydarren)

Kurt was only there because, basically, his boss, his father, and his doctor had all ganged up on him. 

“You’re too stressed,” they all said. “You need to find something to do that will relax you,” his doctor said. “You can’t go on this way,” his boss said. “You need to make serious changes to your lifestyle,” his father said with vengeful glee.

“I don’t have enough time for anything. I had something relaxing, but then I gave up my weekly yoga class because I was too busy,” Kurt responded to each of them. 

And then one morning Isabelle left a flyer on Kurt’s desk chair. “I’ve Got 99 Problems, But a Stitch Ain’t One -- Knitting for the Unconventional Knitter.” It listed a date and time, and there was a sticky note stuck to the front: “I am not going to order you to go, but consider it a very strong suggestion. Everyone tells me knitting is very relaxing.”

Kurt thought about it for a couple of days, leaning very heavily to the “no way in Hell am I ever going to do this” side. But Isabelle was making not-so-subtle hints by leaving him pictures of knitwear with links to patterns, and finally he gave in, figuring this was a relatively easy and relatively inexpensive way to get her off his back.

Which is how he found himself walking toward the back of a yarn shop on the Upper West Side with a tote bag containing a skein of turquoise merino wool worsted weight yarn and a pair of 9-inch bamboo needles in size 7. He honestly had no idea what materials to buy, but when he went to the yarn shop that Isabelle had recommended he had found this beautiful yarn, and the clerks at the shop were more than happy to help him find the other tools he would need to work with the yarn he had found.

He found the area designated for the class and was surprised that, even ten minutes before the class was scheduled to begin, people were sitting in the chairs and had their yarn and needles out. Some people had clearly brought friends with them; there were a few clumps of two and three people sitting together. But there were still plenty of empty seats, and Kurt found one that was close to where the instructor would be sitting but not close to any of the other students.

Once he was seated, Kurt reached into his bag and pulled out his yarn. There was something very sensuous about the yarn. It was a gorgeous, rich color, and Kurt knew from his work with fabrics that merino was just about the softest wool available. 

He didn’t even realize that someone had sat down near him until he heard the voice. “It’s hard not to fondle it, isn’t it?”

Kurt’s head jerked up, and he turned to look in the direction of the voice. A gorgeous guy with too much product in his hair but the most amazing eyes was sitting in the seat two away from him.

“I wasn’t fondling…” Kurt looked down at the ball of yarn, where his fingers were stroking gently though he hadn’t been at all aware that he was doing so. “Uh… I guess I was.”

“Trust me, it’s OK,” the guy said. “Almost everyone here has probably had to safeword at least once in the yarn store from too much overstimulation.” A blush creeped up the guy’s cheeks, and he said, “Uh, that was probably oversharing. Or, at least, it was oversharing before we’ve even introduced ourselves. I’m Blaine.”

“Kurt.”

“Have you ever knit before?” Blaine asked.

“No; I’m not even sure I’m going to now. I’m only here because my interfering friends and family think I’m ‘overextending myself’ and am going to end up having a heart attack at 30.” Kurt stopped, realizing that his dad had his heart attack at 45, so it wasn’t all that impossible. “The message was clear -- find something to relax myself or face the consequences. And my boss thinks that knitting is relaxing, so here I am. What about you?”

“I started knitting last year when I was laid up with a broken ankle, but I didn’t do anything with it after I got off the crutches, so now I want a refresher on the skills. I can’t purl for the life of me; the stitches keep coming out either too tight, messing up my gauge, or twisted.”

“I… didn’t understand half of the words you just said.”

“That’s OK; terminology is probably one of the first things the instructor is going to go over.”

Just then the instructor walked over and took the seat that Kurt had anticipated was designated for him. “Good evening. My name is Elliott, and I’m the owner of this shop. This class is designed for brand-new knitters, people who have been away from knitting for a long time and need a reminder of basic skills, or those who want to shore up their basics before tackling more complicated techniques. It’s also designed for people who may not fit the traditional image of the knitter. Because there is no longer a ‘typical’ knitter. Knitters come in all ages and genders; the craft is not confined to the realm of grandmothers. So find a pattern you like, find a yarn you like, and go from there. Don’t feel like you have to do anything mainstream. Just choose something you’ll enjoy working on, something you’ll appreciate having completed, something you think you’ll be proud of. I have a couple of pattern books here, and you are welcome to look through them. I also have a binder of individual patterns that are available for $1 each. Take a look, find some yarn; we’ll settle up after class. I’ll give you ten minutes to browse and select, then let’s meet back here.”

As Elliott stopped speaking, members of the class started milling around the store, gravitating to the various displays of yarn sorted by manufacturer, yarn weight, or fiber depending on the section of the store. Some others from the class headed to the wall of knitting tools -- needles and other things that Kurt had no idea what they were. His seat neighbor -- Blaine -- stayed where he was, pulling items out of his bag. 

“You need to pick anything out, or you all set?” Blaine asked after a minute.

“I have no idea if I’m all set, but I have a pattern, yarn, and needles, so that’ll do me for now,” Kurt said. He pulled out the sheet of paper with the simple pattern he had been sold by the yarn shop where he bought his yarn and turned it around and around. “It all reads like gibberish to me.”

Blaine looked at the sheet. “This is a nice, straightforward pattern; it’ll make you a lovely scarf in that yarn you were holding.” He pulled a sheet out from under the yarn and needles on the chair between them. “I was looking for a tiny bit of a challenge on this project, since I have done the first-level knitting before, so I picked this.”

When Blaine handed over the sheet, Kurt could see that it was a pattern for a knit bowtie. He raised an eyebrow at Blaine, who blushed a bit.

“What can I say? I like bowties, but I don’t always stick to the 100% traditional.” He showed Kurt the yarn, and he recognized the fiber content of the yarn (though alpaca and wool seemed an odd combination to him), but beyond that all he could say about the yarn was, “It’s a lovely shade of blue.”

“Thanks. I looked at a whole lot of yarn before choosing this one. It just spoke to me.”

They fell into a companionable silence until Elliott called everyone back to order and started up the class again. “OK, so by now you should have your needles and yarn. Don’t worry about the pattern itself right away; what we’re covering tonight will be applicable to any pattern you have. Let’s start with the first thing you will have to do on almost every pattern -- the cast on.”

For the rest of the hour, Kurt struggled to get his yarn and needles to do what he wanted, and he wondered where the idea that this could be relaxing came from, but in the end he decided that it was worth a try and that he would maybe sign up for a six-session class.

“So, if you enjoyed this and plan to go forward, I suggest finding yourself a knitting buddy, at least until you get the technique down,” Elliott said as he started packing away his tools. “Knitting is a great solo craft, but it’s also fun to do in groups. Also, if you have a technique you’ve mastered but another you’re unsure of, your knitting buddy might have mastered the technique you need to learn and be unsure of the one you mastered.”

People around the circle started packing up their materials, and Kurt turned to Blaine. “So, it was nice to meet you. I hadn’t expected there to be so many men here, to be honest.”

“Well, the ad did say ‘for the unconventional knitter.’ My sex alone makes me an unconventional knitter.” Blaine paused, then continued. “So… and this feels so elementary school, but would you like to be my knitting buddy?”

“Are you sure? I’m really not sure what I’m doing.” Kurt held up the needle that had the inch of knitting he had managed to do during the class. “I can’t help but feel that I’ll drag you backwards, skill-wise.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Blaine said. “Helping you improve your skills can only help me improve my skills.”

“Well, if you’re sure…”

“Totally sure. Here,” Blaine said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and holding it out toward Kurt. “Give me your number and we can set up a time to get together.”

Kurt took Blaine’s phone and handed Blaine his own and then quickly typed in his phone number and e-mail address. “My schedule is a little hectic, but I think part of the point of this exercise was to make it less so. So maybe we can find a regular time to meet up.”

“That sounds good,” Blaine said. “Why don’t you come to my place the first time; I can show you my swift and my ball winder.”

“Your what and your what?” Kurt laughed. “Is that the new version of ‘I’ll show you my etchings?’”

“They’re real knitting tools, actually. But if you want to see my etchings…” Blaine trailed off with a vaguely suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Let’s… save that for a future evening,” Kurt said, hoping he was making it clear that he was not ruling it out entirely.

“All right,” Blaine said. “So… do you drink coffee?”

“Of course I do,” Kurt responded. 

“There’s a nice shop down the block. Join me for a cup?”

“That would be lovely.”

They gathered up their belongings and started heading out of the shop toward the street. As they reached the door, Kurt turned to Blaine. “So, about that ball winder…”

END


End file.
